Islip Cinemas

that’s what the sign says…

a theater by anyother name would be a theater…

lets be glad it’s still a theatre.

Anything is better than having it torn down, or gutted for retail.

http://islippavilion.com/index.html

taste of islip nov 29th….631 224 show for info…

happy thanksgiving means… save a theatre…thanks

mom would be proud!

Last year, the Islip Triplex Theater was sold to J.J. Nazzaro & Associates, an Islip based business which has chosen to assist the Islip Pavilion Project, an Islip community effort to renovate the existing theater and create a multi-use entertainment facility, The building will house 3 separate not-for-profit 300 seat community theaters which will present movies, live stage shows, comedy and cabaret shows, dinner and a show productions and musical concerts. An on-premises restaurant will serve full food and beverages to all theaters and will serve alcoholic beverages for adult productions. In addition there will be a full educational program for the benefit of the neighboring public school districts. The conversion has already commenced and donors and volunteers are needed. A series of special previews have been scheduled. On Friday, November 23rd and Saturday, November 24th, at 8 pm, there will be a FREE live production of THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER On Friday, December 21st and Saturday, December 22nd, there will be a FREE live production of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET. All seating will be on a first come, first served basis. For further information, contact Marcalan Glassberg, the Executive Director of the new ISLIP PAVILION, at 631-224-SHOW.

An article from Suffolk Life about the future of Islip Triplex Theater.

View link

I have hosted the pictures on my site and my own message board lioddities.com. What I meant is it would be nice if they could be added here so that it shows up at the top, without having to click a link to see it. This site is wonderful though, so I am not complaining about this minor detail.

Hey, thanks for the offer of help though. :)

I have some pictures of this theater I took just before it closed. I wish the picture post feature still worked.

There will be a public hearing on the future of the Islip Theater on Sept 18th. The announcement should be in the newspaper. I was told by someone who would know that the theater will not be demolished, but be converted to a “multi-use” facility. I won’t make it to the hearing, I hope someone will and report here.

Islip Theater to be demolished! :(
Yet another testament to Islip Town corruption.
In the July 12, 2007 edition of the Islip Bulletin (islipbulletin.net) there is an editorial that says the property was bought by a construction firm: J.J. Nazzaro Associates. No more info is given except that it will probably be yet another “mixed use” residential on top, commercial below building.
Media info. since the closing has been limited, other than a few articles over the past year by locals wanting to keep the theater standing.
I looked up the construction firm and found that it has contributed to local Democrats and recently was a member of a panel created this past February by new Democrat Town Supervisor Phil Nolan aimed at making it easier for developers to build in the town. (BTW: Islip has been a Republican stronghold for over 40 years until a special election last year that split the vote between 2 competing Republicans and ended up electing a Democrat for the first time. So far we’ve been in a stale-mate here, with the exception of a local florist whose shop burned down being prevented from rebuilding because he has campaigned for Nolan’s Republican rival in the past. Nolan supports allowing developers to run amok, while the actual locals who live here are constantly complaining about the over-development and loss of our Main Street’s charm.)

I used to work at the Islip Theater when it was owned by Loews ~1999-2002. It was owned by Cineplex Odeon who was bought out by Loews who then went bankrupt (I think) after building way too many multiplexes. They sold the theater dirt-cheap to some company in Mass. for $150,000 or something. That company also owned Sayville and started a new theater in Seaford. I worked for Loews multiplex in Stony Brook for a few months (that sucked) and then transferred over to Seaford Cinemas with my old manager. At some point Islip was sold to someone else and as far as I know it began to fail. The guy we worked for at Seaford gave me bad vibes and I quit; 2 weeks later my manager was transferred to another theater so the boss could give his loser son-in-law his job. About a year later they were fired after the company realized that they were stealing money. I think that company still owns Sayville and Seaford.

Islip was a nice theater, except that it was out-dated in the sense that there was no air-conditioning (only an old cooling system). The new company had replaced some of the seats, but under Loews it pretty much was left to disrepair. It could never compete with the multiplexes, but it was great for local parents who could just drop their kids off and not have to worry. The 2 theaters downstairs were nothing memorable, but the upstairs theater was cool because it retained the original balcony lay-out with a new floor and extra seating below, and the original staircase was still there. The bathrooms were original (except the sinks and stalls in the girl’s room; the men’s room had cool old urinals), so that was cool.
I remember seeing The Dark Crystal there when I was a little kid before it was converted to a triplex.

Sadly, there really was no way that someone could have afforded to keep it as a theater: it just needed too much work and the profit margins are just not there in movies anymore.
I was hoping that it could be converted to a combination small theater upstairs for art films and a community art center downstairs. That’s what the people in the community keep saying they want, both after the sale of the old roller skating rink and now the theater. Sadly, the town ignores the people and allows corporations and developers to come in and demolish historic buildings to build even more stores. Trust me, we do not need any more box stores!

Unfortunately, $825,000 is the value of the land (actually, it’s worth more empty), not the building, which pretty much guarantees a demo. Personally, I think the town should prevent it’s demolition. The building appears small from the outside because of how the front was designed to not tower over Main Street by a 1-story foyer with marquee and balustrade above. But in actuality the building is huge – there was a huge storage area behind the screens. Housing here is so limited and so expensive that they could easily convert it into 9-10 luxury condos with the original entrance and public bathrooms and staircase as a focal point. That’s what they did with the historic 1920’s Vitagraph film studios in Bay Shore.

Tearing the building down is sacrilege. At this point I would accept turing it into anything as long as the building is not torn down.

Since it was a public auction, shouldn’t the person or persons be a matter of public record?